Page 8 of Rule Breaker

“Damn,” he whispered.

I glanced over and noticed that he had his laptop open, but the telltale buzz meant he was out of power. He shut his computer, and pulled out his phone, typing away.

A middle-aged man in a rumpled brown suit stepped into the class and walked up to the podium, tapping it once.

“I’m Professor Thomas H. Clarke and this is Economics 201. If you’re registered for 101, 301, or 401, guess what? You’re in the wrong class,” he paused.

Five, no six students got up and quickly left the room.

“Now, our first lecture today is about common theories of macro?—”

Boring.

I continued to play solitaire on my phone and half-listened to the teacher. Kayden was typing relentlessly. It sounded like he was either taking word-for-word notes or was texting someone a really long fucking message. Given that he kept muttering and swearing under his breath about ‘talking too fast,’ I assumed it was the former.

“You don’t need to note every damn thing he says,” I bit out.

“Uh, yeah, I do.”

Weird, but okay.

After what seemed like an hour (it was six and a half minutes), Professor Monotone started asking the class questions. Pretty sure Kayden was taking notes on that, too.

“…And to see how much everyone was paying attention, we’re going to have a pop quiz,” he continued. “Open your email. You have fifteen minutes to complete.”

“Shit,” Kayden exclaimed.

Why was he so torn up about a stupid quiz? I pulled out my laptop, filled out the answers in under five minutes, then got back to my game. By the time the class ended, thirty minutes and another boring lecture later, I was dying for a smoke and some kind of mental stimulation. Any kind.

Thankfully, Kayden grabbed his stuff and lumbered off without saying a word. I thought for sure he’d try to talk to me again. But apparently, he’d learned his lesson the first time.

What can I say? I was a really good fucking teacher.

Kayden

I was never going to pass Economics 201. The professor talked too fast, I didn’t understand half the concepts he rattled on about, and most of all, I was distracted by the warning from my advisor. Panic was setting in.

If I lost my scholarship. If I lost, if I lost…

I wouldn’t. I couldn’t. I needed to stay calm.

I’d already been granted extended time for my assignments. But I wasn’t expecting that quiz today and it totally threw me off. Pretty sure I failed that. Not a great start.

How did I forget to charge my laptop? And why the fuck didn’t I remember to bring my charger? I had reading and spelling apps on my phone, and normally they worked great. But when my laptop died and my app froze, I was fucked.

On the positive side, I had tutors lined up. Hopefully, between that and extra time for tests, I’d be okay. As long as I didn’t have to sit beside Maddox again. He finished the quiz in half the time it took me. When I glanced over, I noticed he had his schedule open, and a computer programming class was next. The guy was probably a coding genius or something. Or a hacker. I could see that. He had that ‘I’mangry with the world and I live in a dark basement,’ vibe.

I rushed back to my dorm, grabbed my laptop charger, and headed for my next class. Halfway across the campus, I spotted Dane and Jackson and headed over to say hi. It turned out, my hunch about the two of them was right. And Dane confirmed it that night in town, when me and Jace had dinner with them.

“Jackson and I are dating,” Dane admitted as we sat on the outdoor patio. “We were together back in high school, but I wasn’t ready to come out. But we’re only telling a few of our close friends. I’m not ready to tell everyone. You guys know, obvi, and Coach. I’m still not sure about when I’m going to tell the rest of the team.”

I was happy for them, but I understood.

Jace was bi and had gone through the same thing last year. He hadn’t told the rest of the team either, only me, Dane, and Coach. I got it. There was enough pressure on us between hockey and classes. And fuck knows a lot of people weren’t accepting. Not in the hockey world, and not in the world in general.

“I guess this means we’ll see you at every home game?” I teased Jackson. “Are you gonna bring Wayne too?”

Wayne was Dane’s leopard gecko and not my kind of pet. I preferred dogs. But Wayne was cute, if you liked scaly reptiles. And the other players thought he was cool, so he became our unofficial second mascot.